The Correlation between Enjoying Fictional Narratives and Empathy in Japanese Hikikomori

Background: Hikikomori is a Japanese social withdrawal phenomenon which, in recent years, is spreading in western developed countries as well. Spending a lot of time secluded indoors, watching and playing with fictional narratives may be relatively common for Hikikomori people and may represent a protective factor for their psychological well-being. Method: We evaluated the role of enjoying fictional narratives on empathy, relaxation, depression, and anxiety in people with Hikikomori experience, in relation to their daily consumption of fictional narratives and their emotional transportation toward fictional narratives. Hikikomori from one psychiatric clinic and three different support facilities were enrolled in this study. Multidimensional empathy scale, CES-D, STAI questionnaire, and relaxation inventory self-report scale were used as outcome measures. Results: We found a significant correlation between empathy and emotional transportation toward fictional narratives and between relaxation during watching and reading fictional narratives and consumption frequency of fictional narratives. We failed, however, to find any significant correlation with depression and anxiety. Conclusions: These findings suggest a possible correlation between fiction and empathy/relaxation response; however, any causal relationship is not proven, consequently we deem that further investigations with a larger sample size are required for a better understanding.